


Hawkeye's Pet Supplies

by SneakyHufflepuff



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 16:25:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2157327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SneakyHufflepuff/pseuds/SneakyHufflepuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the be_compromised promptathon.</p><p>AU where Clint and Kate work at a pet supply store. Natasha is a frequent customer, and Kate is suspicious of her motives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hawkeye's Pet Supplies

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to shenshen77 and alphaflyer for the beta :)

Kate was halfway through her copy of _Mockingjay_ when the bell on the door tinkled and a redheaded woman walked in. It was late fall, with enough bite in the air that the strip mall that held Hawkeye’s Pet Supplies had few customers.

The red-headed woman, wrapped in a beautiful blue pea coat, seemed overwhelmed by the array of products, so Kate reluctantly set her book down and walked over.

“Welcome to Hawkeye’s. How can we help you today?”

Kate tried to come off as friendly, like the instructional video Clint had bought suggested, but she thought she sounded like a cartoon version of herself.

The woman smiled at Kate.

“I have a cat. Not really. I don’t have a cat, but-“

“You have a cat, but don’t have a cat?” Kate asked, trying and failing to keep the skepticism out of her voice.

Working retail part-time through college meant that Kate didn’t have a high opinion of the average person’s intelligence, but most customers at least knew what pets they owned.

The woman’s eyes widened as she looked over Kate’s shoulder. Kate turned around to see Clint gazing at their customer like a love-struck dolt. 

“Hey, I’m Clint. I heard something about a cat?” He stuck out his hand.

Handshakes weren’t anywhere in the instructional video, Kate noted grumpily.

The woman shook his hand in return, not seeming to mind the familiarity. 

“I’m Natasha. I need a winter shelter for a cat,” she said.

“Of course. We have some near the back.”

Clint led Natasha through the store, and it didn’t escape Kate’s notice how Natasha’s eyes lingered on Clint, or the way the back of Clint’s neck had turned red when his arm had brushed Natasha’s. 

Feeling thoroughly ignored, Kate returned to her book, until a peal of laughter broke her concentration.

“You wouldn’t mind carrying it to my car for me, would you? It’s an awkward size.”

“Of course not.”

Kate rolled her eyes. A child could carry the winter shelter Natasha had selected. 

She watched Clint carry the shelter to the parking lot as the two chatted easily. Natasha stopped at a black Jag. That sealed it; she could almost see Clint fall in love, right from where she was in the store. 

Not this again, Kate thought wearily.

***

Natasha became a regular customer. She bought a litter box, cat toys, food bowls and water bowls, grooming supplies, an indoor cat bed and a scratching post, visiting separately for each item. Clint began to perk up every time he saw a flash of red hair, much to Kate’s disgust.

The ninth time Natasha came to the store, she was wearing jeans that hugged her ass and a cute red leather jacket. The outfit was almost enough to make Kate reconsider her sexuality.

She walked up to the counter, with an absent nod at Kate. Kate pasted on her customer service smile, but Natasha was already looking over Kate’s head, obviously searching for someone else. In return, Kate started scanning her for cat hair.

“Looking for Clint?” Kate asked. 

“No, of course not. I’m here for flea medicine,” Natasha said smoothly.

Kate narrowed her eyes. Natasha had the air of someone who lied easily, and not a single cat hair on her jeans. Still, Kate had to do her job.

“We sell three types. The Advantix is probably the best. The key is washing everything that could have been flea-infested, even your sheets.”

“Oh, my cat doesn’t sleep on my bed,” Natasha said, brightly.

More evidence she doesn’t actually have a cat, Kate thought, as she unlocked the glass box that held the flea medicine. 

“Natasha!” 

Clint came out of the back with a pile of boxes in his arms. He set them down with comical speed, and bounded to the desk.

“How can we help you today?”

“I’m looking for flea medicine,” Natasha explained, as if she hadn’t just had the same conversation with Kate.

Back to being ignored, Kate decided to make sure the row of leashes on the other side of the store was sorted correctly. How every single customer managed to mess up that display was a mystery to Kate, but somehow they managed.

“The Advantix is your best bet. The important thing is to remember to wash everything, even your sheets,” Clint said.

Natasha nodded as if flea medication was an interesting – no, totally absorbing -- topic. 

Kate rolled her eyes. She was still untangling a pair of leashes when Natasha left.

“Natasha seems nice, doesn’t she,” Clint said dreamily, as the object of his obsession drove away in her Jaguar.

“No,” Kate said, trying to gain enough purchase on one of the leashes to undo the knots.

“No, she doesn’t seem nice?” Clint asked Kate, surprised.

“No, I don’t want to get involved,” she responded, pulling the leashes apart with one hard tug.

At Clint’s wounded look, Kate explained.

“A beautiful woman walks in, with a nice car, and you make heart eyes at her, and a month later you’re heartbroken. And I don’t even think she has a cat. She didn’t have a single cat hair on her!”

“Why would someone come in here if they didn’t have a pet?” Clint asked, looking at Kate dubiously. “And it’s not like she’s hitting on me, or anything,” he said, more to himself than to Kate.

It was Kate’s turn to look at Clint dubiously. 

Clint was a good boss, and Hawkeye’s was a breeze compared to her old job working at Macy’s, but she didn’t want a repeat of the Jessica Drew Debacle of 2013. She had liked Jessica, until one day Clint and Jessica weren’t speaking. Clint had walked around in a stupor for a week, while Kate was forced to deal with a horde of customers during peak season. She hadn’t minded (much), because he’d do the same for her, but stopping him from getting hurt in the first place seemed like a better strategy than dealing with the fall out.

***

The tenth time Natasha walked into the store, it was fifteen minutes from closing and she was wearing expensive earrings and a flowy dress by some designer whose name Kate should probably know. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered. _Who wears eveningwear to a pet supply store?_

Kate moved to the front of the store, intercepting Natasha before she could look for Clint.

“Let me guess. ‘Your cat’ needs something else.”

She put the ‘your cat’ in finger quotes.

“Yes. She does,” Natasha answered, obviously confused.

“Well ‘your cat’ is busy. He’s also easily heartbroken, so you should probably leave and find a different place with a different ‘cat’.”

Kate watched the realization of what Kate was saying wash over Natasha’s features. 

“But I like my cat,” Natasha answered, staring Kate down. “I’m not going to abandon him, or anything.”

“So you don’t have a husband tucked away somewhere? And you’re not trying to indoctrinate him into a cult?”

Kate narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Natasha. Among Clint’s girlfriends, she’d seen it all.

“No. Although I do want to find a way to talk to him without the hitting-on-someone-in-retail aspect.”

Natasha grimaced, and Kate felt a moment of solidarity. She guessed Natasha had probably worked retail, or something like it, at some point. Kate relented.

“Clint likes you. A lot. He also hangs out at the archery range every Saturday morning. You could probably find him there,” Kate mumbled.

“Thank you. And my cat’s name is Liho,” Natasha said.

She pulled her phone out of her purse, and showed Kate a picture of a sleek black cat that was obviously well cared for. Faced with photographic evidence, Kate was forced to admit that Natasha did, in fact, have a cat.

She rung up Natasha’s purchase (two bags of cat treats). Natasha left with a smile and a wave, and Kate started closing up.

“Everything okay out here?” Clint asked, as Kate locked the front door.

“Everything’s great,” Kate answered, hiding a smug smile.


End file.
